Parental Information and Resource Centers
(PIRCs) were conceived by Congress under the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act to
provide parents, schools, and other organizations
working with families with the information
and support (including training and technical
assistance) needed to understand how children
develop and what they need to succeed
in school. The first 28 PIRCs were funded by
the U.S. Department of Education in 1995. Since
then, the PIRCs' role has expanded to include
helping education agencies implement NCLB's
parent-involvement mandates. (see "Key Roles
for a Parental Information and Resource Center
[PIRC]," on p. 7.)

Some PIRCs are stand-alone entities; others
operate as a program within a larger umbrella organization. All are funded through a competitive
grant process whose guidelines have
changed throughout the years based on new
laws and department priorities. The 2006 PIRC
awards, which were granted as this guide was
being written, reflect such changes. Although
the "new" PIRCs have the same statutory mission
as previously funded PIRCs, their service
areas are configured differently. In previous
years, some states had no PIRC while others
were served by more than one. In contrast, the
most recent award cycle usually only funded
one PIRC for each state, with the requirement
that the grantee serve parents and educators
across the whole state. The recently funded
PIRCs also have some timely new priorities:
they are specifically required to increase parents'
understanding of NCLB and its potential
ramifications for their family. The new PIRCs
also are expected to help SEAs and local education
agencies (LEAs) more fully implement
their own parent involvement responsibilities
under title I—responsibilities geared ultimately
to improving student academic achievement
and overall school performance, including, for
example, lowering dropout rates and raising
graduation rates.

PIRCs are by no means the only programs with
a focus on generating greater and more effective
parent involvement. In fact, as is evident
throughout this guide, PIRCs often partner
with other organizations to increase their reach
and influence. But their singular focus has led
some experienced PIRCs to develop and hone
promising outreach and engagement strategies
worth sharing with other organizations that
have the same or similar parent involvement
goals, including newly funded PIRCs, other parent
involvement organizations, LEAs, SEAs, and individual schools. This guide highlights the
parent- and educator-engagement practices of
five PIRCs that received funds in earlier grant
competitions. That is, although several were
first funded in the late 1990s, the guide focuses
on the work of these PIRCs during the funding
periods starting in fiscal year 2002 and 2003 and
continuing to the end of 2006. Though the new
PIRC priorities represented in the 2006 awards
have resulted in only three of these five PIRCs
being refunded, all five are considered to have
implemented effective strategies based on the
mandates of the funding grants that were in
place at the time of this study. The strategies
in this guide are drawn from the following five
PIRCs (for selected characteristics of each, see table 1, on p.8):

The Academic Development Institute's PIRC, Lincoln, Ill.;

The Family Works, Gaithersburg, Md.;

Indiana Center for Family, School, and Community Partnerships, Indianapolis;

The Intercultural Development Research Association's PIRC, San Antonio, Tex.; and

The utah Family Center, Salt Lake City.

How these PIRCs and their partnering organizations
have been pursuing the goal of increased
parent involvement and parent-educator partnerships—especially in the context of NCLB
with its push to improve schools and close the
achievement gap—is the subject of this guide.

Key Roles for a Parental Information and Resource Center (PIRC)

As defined by the Department of Education, the funding
agency for PIRCs, key PIRC roles include:

Providing leadership, technical assistance, and
support in the implementation of successful and
effective parent involvement policies, programs,
and activities intended to improve student academic
achievement;

Strengthening partnerships among parents
(including parents of children from birth through
age 5), teachers, principals, administrators, and
other school personnel in meeting the education
needs of children;

Developing and strengthening the relationship
between parents and their children’s school; and

Providing a comprehensive approach to improving
student learning, through coordination and
integration of federal, state, and local services
and programs.